Village Releases List of Targeted Businesses They Hope to Recruit to Oswego

Could a Trader Joe's be in the Village of Oswego's future?

Quite possibly.

Trader Joe's, Costco, Hobby Lobby are just a few of the more than 100 businesses and light industries the Village of Oswego plans to approach in the coming months.

"Based on the market for Oswego we came up with some categories and businesses," said economic development director Vijay Gadde.

Gadde and village staff will be attending ICSC RECon in May - a trade show of over 30,000 people. For two and a half days Gadde will meet with dozens of retailers and developers to entice them to come to Oswego.

"These are targets we think the community really wants," said village administrator Steve Jones. He said there were a number of businesses that don't know enough about Oswego and this is a good chance to introduce them. "There may even be people thinking of our 2006 demographics and need to be reacquainted with what we have to offer."

"It is a very aggresive list," said trustee Gail Johnson. 

Gadde put together in village documents the types of businesses that are doing well and those that are not. Ones that the village is looking to attract include high-end grocery stores with ethnic or organic features, art and craft stores, restaurants of both fast causal and QSR (quick service restaurant), and fitness. 

Categories that Gadde said were shrinking include larger grocery stores, video games, bookstores and office supplies.

"We also want to do a shopper survey at chamber expo to get more input from the shoppers," said Gadde. The Oswego Chamber of Commerce Business Expo is scheduled for Saturday, April 13.

View all targeted businesses in the attached PDF. (To make it larger, scroll to the bottom of the PDF and click the magnifying glass).

Tell Us: Which targeted business would you most like to see come to Oswego?